Simple rubber band device could make treadmill training cheaper for spinal cord injury
NCT ID NCT02560506
First seen Jun 26, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study tested a low-cost elastic band device designed to help therapists assist people with spinal cord injury while walking on a treadmill. The device uses rubber bands to help move the legs forward during walking. Nineteen participants with spinal cord injury tried the device, and researchers measured changes in walking speed and leg movement patterns. The goal was to see if this simple, affordable tool could improve treadmill training access.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- Elastic band pulley system (Theraband) attached to a treadmill
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this low-cost device could make treadmill training more accessible for people with spinal cord injury, potentially improving walking ability.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, early-stage study with only 19 participants. The device is a simple elastic band system, and its benefits may be limited or not apply to everyone with spinal cord injury.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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19 people
The number who actually took part.
- Start date
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Jan 2008
- Finished
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Sep 2016
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 to 75 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * non-progressive lesion between spinal levels C1-T10 of \> 3 months duration. Subjects with below T10 will be excluded due to potential lower motor neuron (LMN) injury * score \> 10 on the Lower Extremity Motor Score (LEMS) developed previously to measure strength in SCI. For the LEMS criteria, preliminary data indicate that subjects with LEMS \< 10 in the chronic stages do not recover walking * All subjects must require physical assistance to ambulate on the treadmill at a speed of 4.0 kmph at 0% body weight support (BWS) * All subjects will have an overground gait speed \<.8m/s * range of motion (ankle: -10 to 30 deg, knee: 0 to 90 deg, hip: -10 to 40 deg) consistent with gait * medically stable with medical clearance to participate (absence of concurrent illness, including unhealed decubiti, infection, cardiopulmonary disease, osteoporosis, active heterotrophic ossification or peripheral nerve damage in the lower limbs, history of traumatic head injury) * able to tolerate 30 minutes of upright (standing) position without orthostasis (decrease in blood pressure by 20 mmHg systolic and 10 mmHg diastolic; minimized with ambulatory population) * women of childbearing potential Exclusion Criteria: * women who are pregnant will be excluded due to potential forces at trunk from BWS or pelvic assistance * those in concurrent physical therapy to eliminate effects of additional interventions
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, 60611, United States
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